Benjamin Fisk - November 8, 1982

Life in Sachenhoym

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Okay. What were the living conditions like there? Were they better than the ghetto or was it just...

Yes. The living conditions there, especially for me--I worked as a carpenter and I could help myself, you know. Then I worked in--then I didn't work in camp, it was funny, you know, I found out I had one German there, he was the worst guy, you know, in the camp, you know, he was the worst guy. He was ???, you know, he was a ???, he was a murderer, you know, but for me, anything I ask, you know...

Wife: Shh, wait a minute ???

... he used to give me all his food, he never eat the stuff from the camp--the food that they, that they cook the Germans. Every day I used to look upset ??? up and down. I looked upset, he used to call, always used to call out, "Tischler," when he got his food, he used to give it to me. Why? I used to make him ??? when I knew he was going home. I used to make him, you know, like stuff, you know, you put the pencil in for the grandchildren. I knew already, you know, what he, what he, what he wants. And then the, the, the German--the main German from the camp, his son--he tried to protect him, you know. He was a young fellow, maybe twenty, twenty years old. He tried to protect him not to take him to the Russian, the Russian front. He was working in the kitchen. I found out that he's got a son--I didn't have the material to make this veneer, you know, so I paid a German that worked with us in that shop--I paid him twenty, twenty mark. He made a beautiful little box with a Hakenkreuz, you know, with velvet--it's beautiful, you know, with a piece of uh, mirror inside and I found out ??? put it under, under my coat and I went in and I don't remember what--I had to go to, you know, do something--make some shel...shelves or something and I give him the little box. After this, every Sunday morning, you know, he was taking cakes Saturday--big cakes, you know, for the Germans and he used to give me a hearty cake. After that I would put it under my coat, take it out, yeah.

What was the, um...

I used to work, you know, in the factory, come home and work to ten, eleven, twelve o'clock in the night. I had a friend of mine what I met over there from Sosnowiec who was in really bad shape already, he was just about gone. So we start talking and, you know, I took him under my wing, you know. And later he was the cook. He was washing my clothes and I was working all the time, you know. He survived, too, he survived, you know.

How long did you work there in Sackenhoym?

Oh, probably a little over a year.

Okay. And then you went from Sackenhoym...

Then they send us to, uh...

Blechhammer?

No, they send us to uh, ???

To--okay. When did you go to Blechhammer?

To Blechhammer? This was in forty--in the early, you know, well, I think it was like February. It was already starting to get warm already a little bit when we came in, you know, to uh, in '44, I think.

In '44?

Yeah.

Okay. And how did you get there? How did they...

By truck.

By truck?

Yeah.

How far was that?

Oh it wasn't too far, maybe three, four hours, you know. It was ??? , you know, this part of Germany, along Gleiwitz, you know, it wasn't too far, you know.